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Arrow 4X08 Discussion: Not Connor Hawke’s time

Arrow season 4 episode 8 continued the crossover event with The Flash, with the team still battling Vandal Savage. And the mystery of Oliver’s secret son continues with some surprises. So let’s discuss Arrow season 4 episode 8!

Spoilers follow.

Hawkgirl and Hawkman have always had really confusing origins in the comics. Their origin story has changed so much, it’s unclear as to what’s continuity and what isn’t. The Arrow/Flash world have tied their origins to Vandal Savage, and it appears that their ability to reincarnate came from the same event that gave Savage’s ability to be immortal.

Typically Savage gets his immortality from a meteor rock, so that hasn’t changed. What’s interesting is that in the episode the nth metal was discussed, a metal that is supposed to be from Thanagarian, the alien planet that is sometimes the homeworld of Hawkman and Hawkgirl.

So basically I’m still not very clear on their origin yet, but what we do know is that Hawkman, Hawkgirl and Vandal Savage appear to be locked into an eternal battle.

Of course the major part of the episode was trying to figure out how to defeat Vandal Savage once and for all. The team get to a farmhouse (sounds familiar) to make a plan. The first half of the episode sets up the plan, only for us to watch it completely fail.

It was quite intense witnessing everyone we know and love just disintegrate. And with that powerful imagery, we see the reasoning as to why Barry had to time travel. We’ve seen what happens when Barry time travels, and it always seems to have repercussions. Apparently we’ll see those repercussions in the upcoming Arrow episodes, I wonder if it’s connected to the person who dies in Arrow.

For the time being, everything seems to be okay, with Kendra finally becoming Hawkgirl. Everyone teams up and eventually beats Vandal Savage. For me though, it felt slightly anti-climatic, because even though we saw Savage get destroyed we already know he will be in Legends of Tomorrow, so it almost seems pointless. But it was a good fight scene, that’s for sure.

I have no idea why they thought it would be a good idea to just leave an immortal man’s ashes lying around, but they did. And now Merlyn is apparently going to help Savage out, which isn’t too surprising.

The other major part of Arrow season 4 episode 8 focused on the story of Oliver’s son. We find out that “William” is indeed Oliver’s son, oh and is also not Connor Hawke??? According to the producers they didn’t want to use Connor Hawke right now because he would be too young anyways. So does this mean they will ever use Connor Hawke? Will Oliver have another random child (to be fair it’s not uncommon in the comics)? Connor Hawke is said to be appearing in Legends of Tomorrow, so what role does this new child have? Other than to create some tension in Felicity and Oliver’s relationship.

They’ve been setting this story up since season 2, so there must be a bigger plan for this child. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Overall Arrow season 4 episode 8 was a solid enough episode, that nicely rounded off the crossover event. However I’m definitely looking forward to seeing where this son story arc goes to, and how it connects to everything that’s happening right now!

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Horrifying thought: what if that ominous grave we saw at the season’s beginning belongs to William? Or his mother? I can think of nothing, absolutely nothing, which could make a man more inclined to kill, no matter his vow to never to take a life again, than his child’s murder. It would also explain Barry’s presence at the grave, when Olly’s alone, as the only other person who knows about William.

Heck, we can already guess that this secret will come out eventually, to devastating effect, so Damien could easily try to use it against Olly.

Noooo I hope you’re wrong! But that would make a lot of sense. If that were to happen it would rip Ollie’s life apart, and it would be pretty hard to maintain the same happy Green Arrow thing he’s had going this season. We might see the return of season 1 Oliver

Yeah it totally makes sense now if William is the one in the grave. Those guys doing the show do know how to mislead.

And yeah I was kinda happy that initially “Olicity” was about to end, but of course time-travel shenanigans prevented that…or delayed it mwahahahaha.

And I was right in guessing they merged Hath Set and Vandal Savage together. Makes sense, given they have somewhat similarities, only Vandal’s history is more expansive in the comics than Hath’s, and it is a different universe so why not mix things up a little? It does also give Vandal a bit more creepiness since he’s got a thing for Hawkgirl, sort of, so it’s like the worst case of stalking ever since it’s been going on for thousands of years lol.

Noo poor William, he was totally fine until he met Ollie.
Yeah Olicity isn’t going anywhere just yet.
Haha poor Hawkgirl, but I like how they did his origin in the show, and it will be interesting to hear about their past encounters with Savage in Legends